BUSYNESS is a CHOICE – Part 2
By Sandye Linnetz
For people like me, being busy is a choice, not a condition. Yes, we all have the same amount of time each day and we choose how to use that time. I like to stay busy (BUSY, I hear, is the new “fine”). If we’re “crazy busy” our egos get to celebrate our supreme importance. And, come on, who doesn’t like to be supremely important? We probably won’t miss anything even if we’re not constantly checking email and social media, but… why take that chance, right? And, in case we don’t get something done (or done really well or completed on time), we do have a popularly accepted, credible excuse. And in case we don’t want to do something, we have a built in excuse for not doing that, too. We were busy. The question is: Busy doing what?
When busyness is courted as a virtue, we give it carte blanche to be used as a description of who we are and the REASON for what we do and don’t do. I call ‘bull-shit’! There’s no such thing as being too busy to do something you value. If it truly matters to you, you make the time for it. When we tell someone we’re “too busy”, it isn’t necessarily a reflection of our schedule – it’s more likely to be a reflection of where they (or what they need or want from us) are on our priority list. Ouch, that doesn’t feel very good…
Here’s a thought: What if we didn’t gauge the value of our days by how busy we were – or even how productive, but by how we (and those in our lives) feel at the end of a day? If you really WANT to be busy, be busy… I’m going to be busy taking a run this morning. After that I have decided to be busy taking a relaxing shower and maybe even a short nap before I do client calls and writing. I know I’ll be wildly productive because I’ll be busy being grateful, doing good and spreading joy, too! What will you be busy doing today?
P.S. I did it. I ran (though I was sorta busy listening to a book on tape at the same time) and I did have a long and lovely shower (yes, there’s a drought so I guess I won’t wash tomorrow). I skipped the nap but I did at least sit down and do NOTHING for 10 minutes straight (it seemed so much loooonger)! Here’s what I noticed: PEACE and CALM! I got everything done and felt terrific. The only thing I didn’t do was play computer games – no loss there. So, I got busy doing things that totally supported me and had extra energy for the work I FOCUSED on later in the day.
There’s NO BUSY-NESS like slow busyness.